Xbox boss Phil Spencer isn’t hopeful about PS4 cross-platform gaming

Microsoft has been working on expanding cross-platform play to both Sony and Nintendo, notably for Minecraft, but Spencer, in an interview with GameSpot, noted that only the latter has been keen to play nice with Redmond’s Xbox.

“The relationship with Nintendo on this front has been strong. They’ve been great supporters and we continue to collaborate with them,” he said.

But Spencer in’t so convinced that Sony is up for the cross-platform gaming, despite Microsoft’s dialogue with its gaming rival.

“We talk to Sony all the time. With Minecraft on PlayStation, we have to be one of the biggest games on their platform in terms of sales and gameplay,” he said. “But I think Sony’s view is different. They should talk about what their view is…”

Sony has previously said it didn’t want to go in for cross-platform gaming with Minecraft because it would need to relinquish some control over how it looks after is online gamer base. Moreover, in a cross-platform environment it couldn’t manage any problems that crop up, such as bullying between gamers, and exposing young children who play Minecraft to some of the toxic attitudes and behaviours of older gamers.

While Spencer is not exactly hopeful that Sony will change its stance, he was clear to point out to the GameSpot interviewer that he can’t talk on Sony’s behalf and that some day PlayStation gamers may be able to play online with Xbox One users. And he’s a big advocate of cross-platform gaming in general, which would lead us to suspect we’ll see more Xbox Live and Windows 10 PC cross-play games before to long.

“I think people look at [cross-play] and say is it better for gamers. If it’s better for gamers, I have a hard time thinking why we shouldn’t go do this, especially when you’re trying to make the gaming business a bigger business; grow it, get more games, create more opportunity,” explained Spencer.